Is it contagious? An eye-movement and EMG study of smile authenticity judgment

A smile is commonly used to mask negative emotions, yet those emotions are often leaked through microexpressions. These microexpressions act as brief displays of the individual’s true emotion. Studies have indicated that participants often have difficulty judging the emotional expressions as truly happy or not truly happy, even when the leaked emotion is displayed for extended periods of time. The current study used a smile authenticity judgment task and sought to understand why individuals have difficulty with these non-authentic smiles (i.e. masking smiles; angry brow, angry mouth, disgust, fear, sad brow, and sad mouth). Various judgment strategies were evaluated, such as explicit knowledge, attentional limitations (eyemovement measures), emotional contagion (scale; ECS), and facial mimicry (electromyography; EMG). Accuracy results were observed to be a function of emotional expressions, where participants are more accurate with masking smiles containing fear and less accurate with masking smiles containing anger in the brows. In addition, judgment strategies appear to be a function of emotion. For instance, emotional contagion and facial mimicry were respectively significant predictors of fear and angry mouth masking smile judgment accuracy. Alternatively, attentional limitations were a significant predictor of angry brow masking smile judgment accuracy. In sum, smile authenticity judgment of masking smiles and their respective strategies appear to be as a function emotion.Master of Arts in Psychology (M.A.

Effects of forward mask duration variability on the temporal dynamics of brief facial expression categorization

The Japanese and Caucasian Brief Affect Recognition Task (JACBART) has been proposed as a standardized method for measuring people's ability to accurately categorize briefly presented images of facial expressions. However, the factors that impact performance in this task are not entirely understood. The current study sought to explore the role of the forward mask's duration (i.e., fixed vs. variable) in brief affect categorization across expressions of the six basic emotions (i.e., anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise) and three presentation times (i.e., 17, 67, and 500 ms). Current findings do not demonstrate evidence that a variable duration forward mask negatively impacts brief affect categorization. However, efficiency and necessity thresholds were observed to vary across the expressions of emotion. Further exploration of the temporal dynamics of facial affect categorization will therefore require a consideration of these differences

Les difficultés de compréhension en lecture chez les étudiants de la francophonie ontarienne en formation initiale des maîtres

Pour comprendre un document textuel, peu importe le support utilisé, il ne suffit pas de savoir décoder une série de mots; encore faut-il saisir adéquatement le sens général de ce document. L’acte de lire englobe deux constituants : la reconnaissance de mots et la compréhension. En contexte francophone minoritaire, notamment pour les étudiants et les étudiantes en formation initiale des maîtres, lire et comprendre correctement le sens des textes lus en français peut s’avérer une tâche difficile à réaliser. Pourtant, ces futurs enseignants et enseignantes devront évaluer la compréhension en lecture de textes en français de leurs élèves lorsqu’ils seront dans les écoles françaises de l’Ontario. L’objectif de cet article est de déterminer le degré de compréhension en lecture montré par des étudiants en formation initiale des maîtres en milieu francophone minoritaire ontarien par la mise à l’essai d’un outil diagnostique lié à la compréhension en lecture. Les résultats préliminaires montrent que ces étudiants éprouvent davantage de difficulté avec les questions touchant les processus d’intégration et les macroprocessus liés à la lecture. Il sera également question dans cet article de la moyenne obtenue par tous les participants pour les cinq textes lus, des questions ayant reçu le moins de bonnes réponses selon leur catégorie ainsi que des limites de l’étude.To understand a textual document, whatever the medium used, it is not enough to know how to decode a series of words; it is still necessary to correctly grasp the general meaning of the document. The act of reading encompasses two components: word recognition and comprehension. In a minority francophone context, especially for students in initial teacher training, reading and correctly understanding the meaning of texts in French can be a difficult task. Yet, these future teachers will have to assess their students’ French reading comprehension when they are in French schools in Ontario. The objective of this article is to determine the degree of reading comprehension shown by students in initial teacher education in minority Francophone communities in Ontario by testing a reading comprehension diagnostic tool. Preliminary results show that these students have more difficulty with issues related to reading-related integration processes and macroprocesses. This article will also discuss the average obtained by all participants for the five texts read, questions that received the fewest correct answers according to category and the limitations of the study.Para comprender un documento textual, independientemente del soporte utilizado, no basta con saber descodificar una serie de palabras; también es necesario comprender adecuadamente el sentido general de dicho documento. El acto de leer incluye dos componentes: el reconocimiento de las palabras y la comprensión. En contexto francófono minoritario, en particular para los estudiantes en educación básica, leer y comprender correctamente el sentido de los textos leídos en francés puede resultar una tarea difícil de realizar. Sin embargo, esos futuros maestros y maestras deberán evaluar la comprensión en lectura de textos en francés de sus alumnos cuando trabajen en las escuelas francesas de Ontario. El objetivo del presente artículo es determinar el grado de comprensión en lectura puesta de manifiesto por los estudiantes en educación básica en el medio francófono minoritario ontariense gracias a la aplicación experimental de un instrumento de diagnóstico relacionado con la comprensión en lectura. Los resultados preliminares muestran que dichos estudiantes confrontan más dificultades con las preguntas sobre los procesos de integración y los macro-procesos relacionados con la lectura. También se aborda en este artículo el promedio obtenido por todos los participantes para los cinco textos leídos y las preguntas que recibieron menos respuestas correctas según su categoría así como los límites del estudio

Les difficultés de compréhension en lecture chez les étudiants de la francophonie ontarienne en formation initiale des maitres

Pour comprendre un document textuel, peu importe le support utilisé, il ne suffit pas de savoir décoder une série de mots; encore faut-il saisir adéquatement le sens général de ce document. L’acte de lire englobe deux constituants : la reconnaissance de mots et la compréhension. En contexte francophone minoritaire, notamment pour les étudiants et les étudiantes en formation initiale des maîtres, lire et comprendre correctement le sens des textes lus en français peut s’avérer une tâche difficile à réaliser. Pourtant, ces futurs enseignants et enseignantes devront évaluer la compréhension en lecture de textes en français de leurs élèves lorsqu’ils seront dans les écoles françaises de l’Ontario. L’objectif de cet article est de déterminer le degré de compréhension en lecture montré par des étudiants en formation initiale des maitres en milieu francophone minoritaire ontarien par la mise à l’essai d’un outil diagnostique lié à la compréhension en lecture. Les résultats préliminaires montrent que ces étudiants éprouvent davantage de difficulté avec les questions touchant les processus d’intégration et les macroprocessus liés à la lecture. Il sera également question dans cet article de la moyenne obtenue par tous les participants pour les cinq textes lus, des questions ayant reçu le moins de bonnes réponses selon leur catégorie ainsi que des limites de l’étude

Dual-mode imaging with radiolabeled gold nanorods

Many nanoparticle contrast agents have difficulties with deep tissue and near-bone imaging due to limited penetration of visible photons in the body and mineralized tissues. We are looking into the possibility of mediating this problem while retaining the capabilities of the high spatial resolution associated with optical imaging. As such, the potential combination of emerging photoacoustic imaging and nuclear imaging in monitoring of antirheumatic drug delivery by using a newly developed dual-modality contrast agent is investigated. The contrast agent is composed of gold nanorods (GNRs) conjugated to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) antibody and is subsequently radiolabeled by 125I. ELISA experiments designed to test TNF-α binding are performed to prove the specificity and biological activity of the radiolabeled conjugated contrast agent. Photoacoustic and nuclear imaging are performed to visualize the distribution of GNRs in articular tissues of the rat tail joints in situ. Findings from the two imaging modalities correspond well with each other in all experiments. Our system can image GNRs down to a concentration of 10 pM in biological tissues and with a radioactive label of 5 μCi. This study demonstrates the potential of combining photoacoustic and nuclear imaging modalities through one targeted contrast agent for noninvasive monitoring of drug delivery as well as deep and mineralized tissue imaging

A phase 1/2 clinical trial of invariant natural killer T cell therapy in moderate-severe acute respiratory distress syndrome

Abstract Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, a unique T cell population, lend themselves for use as adoptive therapy due to diverse roles in orchestrating immune responses. Originally developed for use in cancer, agenT-797 is a donor-unrestricted allogeneic ex vivo expanded iNKT cell therapy. We conducted an open-label study in virally induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 virus (trial registration NCT04582201). Here we show that agenT-797 rescues exhausted T cells and rapidly activates both innate and adaptive immunity. In 21 ventilated patients including 5 individuals receiving veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO), there are no dose-limiting toxicities. We observe an anti-inflammatory systemic cytokine response and infused iNKT cells are persistent during follow-up, inducing only transient donor-specific antibodies. Clinical signals of associated survival and prevention of secondary infections are evident. Cellular therapy using off-the-shelf iNKT cells is safe, can be rapidly scaled and is associated with an anti-inflammatory response. The safety and therapeutic potential of iNKT cells across diseases including infections and cancer, warrants randomized-controlled trials